To understand why I love what i do, you have to understand how I got here.

I started in the mortgage industry because I became addicted to real estate. Prior to that, I was a life long career, bartender/server. I moved to Las Vegas to bartend and work in the service industry. I never expected to leave my line of work. I still speak fondly of the job to the point where people will ask, “well then why did you leave”?

I moved to Vegas with the goal of going home (Fresno, CA) within 2 years. I told everyone. Don’t miss me too much. I’ll be back before you know it. After a year of living here, I bought a small, but cute condo. 705 sq. ft. 1 bedroom, 1 bath. I was going to rent an apartment anyways, if I am able to buy something, why throw my money at rent. When I move back, I’ll just sell it or rent it out. No biggie. I worked my little bootie off and after 3 years, completely paid it off.

I lived in it for 4 years and due to unfortunate circumstances, I ended up selling my unit. In 2014, I bought the condo for $68,500. In 2018, 4 years later, I sold it for $141,000. This is when it truly started to hit me. I didn’t initially buy it as an investment, per se. I bought it, because my mortgage was cheaper than renting. And I figured, as long as I could make my money back and break even, when I sold it, it would be happy.

I was told by a lot of people when I first bought the condo, that they just don’t appreciate in value the same was as a single family home or townhouse do. That I should buy that one of those. No shit, sherlock. I would if I could. That would be nice and all, sure. I just couldn’t afford it. Heck, for another $20,000, I could have bought a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo. My financing options were very limited. I was stretched and this was WITH a generous gift from my mom to helped me with the down payment. I had put down 27%. Another story, for another blog. But I’ve never been one to live above my means, kind of person. So a small condo was perfect for me. The association was clean, quiet, centrally located and functional for just me and my little dog.

I didn’t just walk away with the full $141,000. Just like buyers have their closing cost that they have to pay, there are seller closing cost as well. But without diving too much into the math of it all. I still came out on top with a nice chunk of change.

This is the start of my very, expensive addiction. I wanted to know more. It took a few years to decide I wanted to make the career switch. It’s a big decision. But I had to do it, because this itch was not getting any better. The calling was too loud.

You hear all the time, about how owning real estate is how the wealthy build their wealth. Many times, generational wealth. I just couldn’t see it. But more so, I kind of thought it was a myth. Maybe this was true back in the day. But certainly not now? I get asked that question a lot in my line of work.

But after buying and selling my first home. I saw the path of possibilities. The potential. I knew more than when I first started. But it wasn’t enough. I knew to really be an expert, I had to get behind the lines. I would have to immerse myself in it, EVERYDAY. Real estate is a complex beast and until you really get into, you don’t actually know that.